Fbi Must Finish Probe Of Shooting By Aug. 31

Agency To Forward Findings Of Investigation To Justice Department

HAMPTON — The Justice Department should know by early September whether the FBI thinks that the two police officers who killed Andrea Nicole Reedy violated her civil rights.

The FBI decided to open a civil-rights investigation based on circumstances surrounding the shooting of the 32-year-old Hampton woman. Two Hampton patrol officers fired at Reedy in her car after a brief pursuit during the early hours of July 27.

The shooting has many in the community taking sides: One faction backs the Police Division, which says officers fired after Reedy rammed her car into police cruisers. Another faction says officers used excessive force in firing at an unarmed motorist who was pursued because of reckless driving. Some have speculated that race was a factor. Reedy was black, and the two officers were white.

Special Agent Robert Patterson of the FBI's Norfolk office said Wednesday the office had 21 working days to complete the civil-rights investigation and forward the preliminary findings to the Justice Department in Washington.

The FBI started its inquiry Aug. 2, so that means the investigation should be completed by Aug. 31. It's unknown when the Justice Department might report back its own findings.

An FBI agent investigating the Reedy case has interviewed the Hampton police chief, detectives and internal-affairs officers. The internal-affairs officers are investigating whether the two officers violated departmental policy when they approached Reedy in a car and fired their semiautomatic pistols at her.

"They have been more than open and extremely cooperative," Patterson said of the Hampton police officials. "I think they welcomed the FBI involvement."

Patterson emphasized that the FBI's investigation was preliminary.

"The report is sent to the Justice Department's civil-rights division, and they make the call as to whether to prosecute or not, or decide further investigation is needed," he said.

Patterson said it was rare for the Justice Department to send a case back for further investigation or for a civil-rights inquiry to result in a federal prosecution.

Since January 1997, the FBI and Justice Department have investigated 45 complaints of civil- rights violations against law-enforcement agencies in the Hampton Roads region, Patterson said.

Five of those cases involved what Patterson called "in-custody deaths," where the victim died while a police officer or deputy was trying to subdue or arrest the victim. Those investigations ended with the Justice Department concluding that no civil-rights violations occurred.

"There were no federal prosecutions in those cases," Patterson said.

One of the officers accused of shooting Reedy is a 10-year veteran with the rank of corporal who was supervising the other officer. The other officer has been on the force about 2 1/2 years, police sources said. Both are on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of criminal and internal investigations.

Cpl. Jimmie Wideman, police spokesman, said the department's policy was not to release a person's name unless he or she had been charged with a crime.

"We never release the named of anyone under suspicion," Wideman said. "We are consistent in that regard."

RECENT FBI PROBES OF AREA POLICE

The FBI investigated possible civil rights violations in five police-custody deaths in the area since 1979. In each case, the FBI and the Justice Department found no evidence to support a federal charge.

* Bryan Edward Dugan, 19; shot by two Virginia Beach police officers during a standoff June 15, 1997. Dugan lunged at the officers with knives.

* Igod Allah, 28, of Newport News; died after Newport News detectives arrested him on a drug charge Aug. 6, 1999. Allah swallowed a fatal dose of cocaine while he was being arrested.

* Raymond C. Chandler, 41; died July 15, 2000, when four police officers tried to arrest him during a traffic stop. The medical examiner ruled that his death was the result of a medical condition.

* Robert "Levern" Wright, 31; died at Obici Hospital after Suffolk police officers pepper- sprayed him during a struggle Sept. 28, 2000. Police said Wright was armed with a knife.

* Kathy S. Kearns, 43; died of liver failure at the Virginia Beach Jail on April 26. Kearns, a drug abuser, suffered from chronic liver disease.

- Daily Press

David Chernicky can be reached at 247-4743 or by e-mail at dchernicky@dailypress.com